Determining television viewing audience size and demographics of programs and program sources (e.g., a television broadcast, a Pay-Per-View program, a recorded program such as a movie on a video cassette, etc.) helps television program producers improve the quality of television programming and determine a price to be charged for advertising broadcast during such programming. In addition, accurate television viewing demographics allow advertisers to target audiences of a desired size and/or audiences including members having a set of common, desired characteristics (e.g., income level, lifestyles, interests, etc.).
To collect viewing statistics and demographics, an audience measurement company may enlist a number of television viewers (e.g., a panel) to cooperate in an audience measurement study for a predefined length of time. The viewing habits of these enlisted viewers or panelists, as well as demographic data about these enlisted viewers, are collected using automated and/or manual collection methods. The collected viewing data is then used to generate a variety of informational statistics related to television viewing audiences including, for example, audience sizes, audience demographics, audience preferences, the total number of hours of television viewing per household and/or per region, etc.
The configurations of automated data collection systems vary depending on the equipment used to receive, process, and display television signals in each home being monitored. For example, homes that receive cable television signals and/or satellite television signals typically include set top boxes (STB) to receive television signals from a cable and/or satellite television provider. Television systems configured in this manner are typically monitored using hardware, firmware, and/or software to interface with the STB to extract or to generate signal information therefrom. Such hardware, firmware, and/or software may be adapted to perform a variety of monitoring tasks including, for example, detecting the channel tuning status of a tuning device disposed in the STB, extracting program identification codes embedded in television signals received at the STB, generating signatures characteristic of television signals received at the STB, etc.